


With You By My Side

by The_Bad_Writer



Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons), Trollhunters - Daniel Kraus & Guillermo del Toro
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Crying, Draal Lives, Idk i made this a while ago so i decided to post, M/M, Sadness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-19 19:02:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19978978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Bad_Writer/pseuds/The_Bad_Writer
Summary: Draal notices Jim being sad lately after the battle with Morgana, distancing against himself and the other trolls. One night, Draal decides to investigate.





	With You By My Side

New Jersey wasn’t the ideal place to find a new home, but Jim and the rest of the trolls were forced to. It wasn’t as if they could choose where to live; they needed the hearthstone.

Jim laid his back on one of the many trees surrounding the woodland forest, as he could hear the many different trolls talking and associating with each other in the night.

Unsurprisingly, it was difficult to hide an entire group of trolls in the many different forests of the state, with all the different factors that the trolls needed to assess. Even though Arcadia witnessed the extraterrestrial, New Jersey didn’t.

For Jim, it was tough to get away from the group, with the trolls always looking up to him for guidance and strategic escape methods. He always carried such a heavy weight on his shoulders. Being the hero that was in charge of finding them a new home was stressful, and Jim was at his breaking point.

It was so much easier before, with both of his worlds right beside him, allowing the freedom of choosing whichever place he wanted to go. Not only that, but he had his friends along with him; Toby, Claire, and all of them together. Jim felt unstoppable with them, confronting every conflict that dared to stand in their way.

The Trollhunter’s human friends weren’t along with him for the adventure, unfortunately. He didn’t feel the same anymore without them.

Before the battle with Gunmar and Morgana, Jim had a falling out with Claire, and their relationship ended with pure bitterness. They’re still friends of course, but it won’t ever be the same.

And for Toby, Jim felt the need to leave him to protect Arcadia, leaving him and Arghh to fend off any unwanted and dangerous attention.

Jim felt extremely depressed when he left for New Jersey without them. It’s like a piece of himself died inside within him. And to add to the dumping trash pile, he was half troll, and he still couldn’t figure out how to change to a human, not that he even knew if he could.

So Jim laid his back on the tree, figuring out what to do to cope with his loneliness and constant stress, as unwanted tears started to form in the corner of his eyes. As he’s thinking, he probably shouldn’t describe his situation as lonely. He still had the trolls, specifically Blinky and Draal.

Although, Blinky was more of a father figure with guidance than a friend. Of course, that didn’t change the fact that Jim would go for him to advice and enjoyment, but during the session of exploring New Jersey, he even felt distance towards him.

And that left Draal, who Jim had been closer to during the final moments before the battle in Arcadia. He adored Jim’s new transformation, laughing with Jim at the fact that he couldn’t be called “fleshbag” anymore. He even remembered Draal bringing him into a bone crushing hug after they defeated Morgana.

But the Trollhunter was unaware of the many times that Draal had observed his loneliness.

It was during times of isolation, where the morning sun rose to the sky, and Jim looked at the horizon from a distance, unable to touch the light. He would try to reach into the light, only to burn himself, thinking he would build some sort of resistance.

Draal watched him from a distance, observing the young troll’s frustration as he tried to cope with the loss of his old life.

In the beginning, for Draal, he always thought of the choice to choose a human troll hunter in the first place, and how it didn’t make sense. Looking back, he realizes all of the significant advantages that Jim possessed unlike the previous hunters; access to the human and troll world and protection against sunlight. Now, he doesn't even have those great advantages, as the sudden change of becoming a troll will now forever be a part of him.

There were even times where Draal heard the faint sound of weird sobbing echoing through the forests where they laid to camp, though he didn’t care for it until now. Jim would try to sneak as far away as possible, but the Trollhunter had much responsibility and tasks to just cry by himself, so he hid his tears away and went to whatever Troll that needed his help. He hid these feelings away from Blinky and Draal especially. But Draal noticed.

This caused him to develop much sympathy for Jim, realizing how awful it must be to have such a change affect your entire life. He couldn’t believe there was a time where Draal hated the human for him being a human Trollhunter, now he’s feeling sorry for Jim about him not being one anymore. The irony drills a hole into him.

Currently, Draal was helping some of the Trolls out with tough labor, using his strength to supply them with all different things. Though, even for a big troll, he was starting to feel tired. So after helping out for a few more minutes, Draal retired to what Jim called a “tent.” He remembers the first time Jim tried to set it up, as the tent flew down in shambles, as Jim groaned in frustration.

Now that Draal thinks about it, Jim was more frustrated that day, perhaps he was angry about something. Draal thought about the incident with a somber feeling.

Now unable to shake away the thoughts of him, he became curious as to the Trollhunter’s whereabouts, so he departed from his tent.

A tired and half-asleep Blinky was discussing manners of some sort with a few other trolls when out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the son of Kanjigar coming his way. Eager to get away from responsibility, even if Blinky loved leading the trolls, he faced the son of Kanjigar.

“Ah, Draal, what seems to be the issue?” He smiled softly, waiting for any question or request other than the previous, much more tedious conversation he just had.

Draal scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “Well, the issue’s that I can’t find the Trollhunter anywhere. Do you know where he is?”

Blinky shook his head. “My apologies Draal, I’m afraid I don’t know. Jim usually goes to his tent at this hour, but I don’t think he’s there right now.”

Blinky’s answer caused Draal to become more curious, as he walked through the camp to find Jim. After not being able to see him throughout the central middle area, he walked through the empty spaces that surrounded the Trolls, a torch in his hand guiding him.

As Jim laid his body on the tree during his time of isolation, he thought of school. Sure, it wasn’t perfect, but it was something he loved. He felt pathetic, moping around all alone, self-pity swallowing him. Jim was now in the middle of tears running down his face. He rubbed his cheeks, trying to stop the flow of the tears from dripping down his face. He was unable to prevent it, as he choked out a soft sob that was too loud for Jim’s liking.

“Shit….” Jim cursed, covering his mouth to prevent sobbing more louder. What kind of a Trollhunter was he to be acting like a stupid baby? He shouldn’t be this weak. The past hunters dealt with much more worse problems than he’ll be able to understand.

But that didn’t help Jim, as he dug his face into his shoulders, trying his best to make himself invisible and disappear from this awful earth. He wished that he never became a Troll.

“I didn’t ask for any of this!” His pubescent voice cracked, cringing at his deeper and lower tone than when he was a human. Before he turned into some other species.

“Jim?” A deep and concerned voice called out.

Jim’s entire body tensed up, his heart sinking down into his stomach with massive anxiety as he suddenly recognized the voice.

Draal’s face had illustrated confusion, surprise, and concern with a simple frown and a raised eyebrow. His face was exposed due to the very bright lamp, as he stared at the much younger half-troll, who was lying on the floor with tears flooding down his cheeks, a mournful look in his face.

“Draal!!” Jim’s eyes widened, as he stood up quickly. He made futile attempts to wipe his tears away and cursed himself for allowing himself to be exposed like this. He gave the older troll a nervous grin, crossing his arms and pretending that Draal hadn’t just seen him sobbing. “What’re you doing up?! You should be in bed for the long journey tomorrow…” 

The older Troll raised an eyebrow. “Long journey? Jim, didn’t you say we were camping here for two days?” 

Jim’s eyes widened. “I did?” He grinned even wider. “I did!!! Gee, it’s getting pretty late, don’t you think, buddy?! I’ll just be on my way-“

Draal shook his head, and with one hand he pushed Jim into the tree, observing his face. The kid’s fur around his face was ruffled up, and wet marks on his blue skin gleamed in the light, showing signs that Jim was crying for maybe an hour. In his mind, Draal was reluctant to admit that even when crying, Jim looked rather dashing, handsome almost.

He knew the look Jim displayed; a look of complete sadness and isolation that only comes from a problem he can’t do nothing about. He remembers all those times he tried to bond with his father, only to be rejected.

“You’re not going anywhere until you tell me why you’re upset.” Draal said with clenched teeth, giving Jim a threatening yet gentle look. 

Jim gulped. Personally, he didn’t feel like doing this now. He cursed himself for staying alone for too long.

“Draal, I swear it’s nothing personal. I’m tired, and I just wanna go to bed.” He have Draal a fake reassuring look, trying his best to escape the hand that was forcing his back into the tree. 

The next thing he knew, Jim was compressed even more, as he came face to face with Draal, who growled and displayed his scowl.

“Nothing personal?! Jim, you’ve got tears in your eyes that say otherwise. What in the hell’s up with you? Spill it out!”

Jim immediately felt in awe. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He tried to lower himself away and try to escape, but it was hopeless. He sighed, and nodded, “fine.”

Draal let go of the hold he had, and Jim sunk to the ground, and held to his knees and looked up to Draal.

“Have you ever thought about wanting to become a human, Draal?”

Draal was caught by surprise, not understanding the question. Cautiously thinking about his answer, he came up with, 

“Not that I don’t remember,” he said, sitting down next to him.

“Exactly. Why change what you’re already used to, right? When I signed up for troll hunting—not that I ever signed up purposely in the first place—I eventually knew about the dangers and drama I’d face, but to change from become a human to a freaking troll!?!”

Draal frowned. “Jim, nobody asked you to become a troll either.”

“But I had to!!! When I became a troll, I managed to defeat Gunmar and Morgana, something that human Jim would have died attempting.”

Taking this into account, Draal thought again, as he finally came up with a counterargument. “See, the problem with your problem is that you think that fleshbag Jim is as gone as the hearthstone in troll market, but you do realize that there’s still a part of you inside that will always be fleshbag Jim.”

“That’s THE THING. PART, DRAAL, PART.” Jim yelled out, facing Draal with a tragic look in his eye, and Draal stood shocked as Jim stood up. “I WILL NEVER BE FULLY HUMAN! ITS LIKE IM JUST SOME STRANGER! I DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW TROLLS COULD JUST LIVE THEIR LIVES IN THE FUCKING DARK!!!!!” He gave loud, echoing sobs as tears rolled down his Stoney-like skin.

Jim fell to the ground on his knees, sobbing loudly as he crossed his arms to hide his skin. The next thing he knew, he felt a warm tightness around his waist. He took in a large breath, and saw the familiar blue skin of Draal’s, as he felt his hug become tighter. 

Draal decided to do what human’s called a “hug,” for Jim’s sake. Though he didn’t understand what they were for. The next thing he knew, Jim let go of the hug and turned around to face Draal. 

Jim’s eyes glowed in the moonlight, his ruffled hair managing to still look presentable, as Draal couldn’t read Jim’s expression. Instead, he put a comforting hand on Jim’s shoulder.

“Listen,” he started, “I’m not really good at these things. Seriously, I’m not—most of the times I usually fought and battled to bond with others—but I know for a fact that you didn't deserve what happened to you. Your friends, although supportive, may not fully know the new you, but that doesn’t change what used to be; kind, brave, handsome, and annoying,” he chuckled at that last part.

Draal faces Jim with a passionate look. “We…can’t change what happened, Jim.” Draal tried to give out the best smile he could. “But we’ll go through this together, and I’ll be by your side.”

Silence went through the forest. Nothing happened. Draal had finished speaking, and Jim’s eyes still glowed. 

But the next thing Draal knew, Jim’s troll hands touched each side of his face, and before he could comprehend anything else, he felt what seemed to be Jim’s lips join and smashed with his, joined with an exhilarating shock. 

Draal remembered what the action meant. He once made a comment about how awful and weird of a mating custom it was; Jim talked about wanting to do the same thing they were doing to Fair Claire, but because of their separation—it was called break up, he thinks?—they never did it again. 

In what seemed to be a longer period than the Gum-Gum war, they separated. Jim’s cheeks turned darkish blue, as Draal’s eyes were wide and his mouth was agape. 

The two trolls stood frozen together, Draal still tightly holding Jim’s waist. He couldn’t let go, even when Jim finally spoke up with a smile.

“Draal… the fact that you’re capable of even confronting me about my problem is shocking as hell, and the fact that you were capable of hugging is just outrageous.” Both of them laughed at the comment. “I never knew how comforting you could be and I just..” Jim felt tears form in his eyes as he grinned at Draal. “I’m glad you’re my friend.” 

Jim jumped up and wrapped his arms around Draal’s neck, faintly touching each other’s horns, as Jim snuggled in the crook of Draal’s neck. 

Draal had no reaction towards what happened, and when they finally let go of each other, all Draal could do was stare into Jim’s eyes. 

“Hey, Draal. Remember when I… um… kissed you…” 

“What’s that?”

“Um… pushed my mouth into yours…”

“Oh… that.”

“Well, what do you think…”

“Hmm… I always thought I was weird, you know? But now having felt it… it’s not so bad…”

“...Really?!”

“Yeah…” Draal smiled, a faint blush he’d never let Jim see in a million years. “Really.”


End file.
